“We were a direct line item in city budget, then the city had to reduce their budget … The funding just wasn’t there,” East Lansing Public Library Director Kristin Shelley said. “If property taxes don’t fall, we should come up a little bit ahead (with the millage). Hopefully it will put the budget in balance and we can look at doing some different things — some progressive, innovative things — for library.”

Mayor Diane Goddeeris said the millage frees up money for the city to address other public safety and infrastructure needs.

“One of the things we are doing by going through this process is looking at ways we could maximize the dollars that we have,” Goddeeris said. “The money we normally spent on the library … is now available for us to use in other parts of budget.”

The millage money will be stored in a separate fund exclusively for the library, where Shelley said the library plans to use the funding to restock their book and magazine collections, make improvements to the library itself and do what they can to stay relevant in an ever-changing technological culture.

“We have to keep a balance; we’ll be living in an hybrid world for many years,” Shelley said. “People obviously want print material, but they want e-content and e-books, too.”

If the library hadn’t received voter approval, it most likely would have closed its doors both Fridays and Sundays year-round — which Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett said would be a large disadvantage for the public, since the library often serves as a central place for teens, families and local residents.

“It’s a community gathering place,” Triplett said.